FALL RIVER — School officials are hopeful a new pre-kindergarten-to-Grade 8 Henry Lord School will offer the same close-knit community experience for students and families that they say has contributed to the successful turnaround of the John Doran Community School.

During a meeting Monday night with parents at Carlton Viveiros Elementary School, officials explained that they also expect the new school model to alleviate large early elementary school classroom sizes that now exist at other South End elementary schools, including Viveiros, Alfred Letourneau and William S. Greene elementary schools.

Under new school zones, the Henry Lord School would be populated by some Viveiros and Letourneau students. Class sizes at Greene would be alleviated by transferring students over to Letourneau.

Fall River schools chief academic officer Fran Roy and chief operating officer Tom Coogan joined new Henry Lord Principal Tracy Curley, currently B.M.C. Durfee High School’s associate principal, in the second of three meetings with parents whose students who had recently received letters notifying them that they have been reassigned to Henry Lord when school boundaries were redrawn.

Roy said the new Henry Lord would offer a community environment such as those in parochial and charter schools. The model would have the greatest impact on Henry Lord’s incoming sixth-graders.

“You really need to think about what kind of middle school experience do you want them to have,” Roy told parents. “If you go into Henry Lord they are negotiating 75 other sixth-graders. If you go into Kuss, they’re negotiating 200 other peers.

“Some kids thrive in that larger model, and some kids might feel more connected, more comfortable in the sort of more community atmosphere Henry Lord will have,” she said.

In many cases, older students become mentors for their younger peers. “That changes the way middle school students look at the whole school experience,” Roy said.

“We’re a city that has a lot of transition,” Coogan added, saying that if parents feel their children need extra attention, Henry Lord may be able to provide it.

He said the district is also committed to reducing class sizes. “What we’re trying to do is create a space," Coogan said. "We’re committed. We have to start somewhere.”

The two dozen or so parents in attendance didn’t appear opposed to the new school.

They had questions regarding how much mingling would occur between older middle school-age and younger students, what opportunities there would be for sports participation, spirit wear, transportation and whether the school would offer an early morning drop-off program.

Maria Rowley, a parent of a young student at Viveiros, said she works early in the morning and the availability of that early morning drop-off at Henry Lord is “a huge decision-making part of it for me.”

Page 2 of 3 - If early morning care is not available, “I would have to stay here,” Rowley said.

Curley responded that it was a detail still being worked out for the new school, along with the creation of a parent-teacher organization. She said a PTO might be able to advocate for an early care program.

Curley also told parents there would be 21 new teachers at Henry Lord and she is excited “for this opportunity.” Citing Doran as an example, she said, “If you create something and you do it well, you do it again. It becomes a responsibility.”

She said she has conferred with Doran Principal Maria Pontes on how the model has worked there.

Curley said she learned from Pontes that during the first transition year, some parents opted out, preferring that their students be placed in a traditional middle school. But now, “ parents just don’t leave, and now they’re getting requests to come in.

Henry Lord’s different student age groups would have different hallways and floors, and would likely use separate entrances into the school. Younger students would not be placed on the same buses as much older students.

The new school’s boundaries extend from the city’s Corky Row neighborhood near Interstate 195 south along parts of Plymouth Avenue. The district includes the area from Cook Pond eastward and west of William S. Canning Boulevard, and continues down to the Tiverton border.

Current pre-K, Grade 1 and Grade 5 student who live in the new Henry Lord zone have been reassigned to the new school, while current second-, third- and fourth-grade students have been invited to transfer there.

Roy and Coogan assured parents on Monday that those assignments are not finalized. Parents can apply to opt out of the new school, so long as they provide an explanation. Priority would be given to families with siblings who would be assigned to different schools.

Coogan said accommodating those requests would depend on how congested classrooms are at each of the current schools. A hard deadline has not been set for submission of applications, which are now available on the district’s website and in the offices of those schools.

“If you want to stay, you have options. If you want to wait a little while, you have time,” Coogan said.

The next meeting with parents will be held April 30 at 6 p.m. at Letourneau Elementary School.

Last week, crews repainted classrooms on the second floor of Henry Lord. The building, at 151 Amity St., has been closed since the end of last June. This week, painting, plumbing, heating and ventilation work began on the first floor.

Most of the work will be finished by the end of July, well ahead of the September start date for the school year.

Page 3 of 3 - By mid-May, the school building should be open for parents to tour.

“We are planning some tours and some parent meetings after school, so you can get in and have a look ... and get a feel for what we’re talking about,” Coogan said.